Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was found guilty on all 30 counts he was indicted on, including 17 capital offenses. His legal team argued that the trial judge should have, but did not, ask jurors about their media consumption ahead of their selection, as the case had received extensive coverage over the years. They were also of the belief that jurors should have been aware of the evidence linking Dzhokhar’s brother, Tamerlan, to a 2011 murder (via the Supreme Court). Following the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals’ decision to do away with Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s death sentence, the United States Justice Department brought the case to the Court’s attention, asking that the death sentence be reinstated (via ABC News).
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What was somewhat unusual about this was that just a few months before introducing Tsarnaev’s case to the Supreme Court, United States Attorney General Merrick Garland announced that the department was pausing the execution of federal inmates. According to the Death Penalty Information Center, this was so that the department could evaluate issues that have been alleged concerning the death penalty and its implementation, including racial bias and wrongful convictions. Likewise, President Joe Biden has also stated his hopes to do away with the death penalty altogether, which, according to ABC News, makes him the first sitting president to hold that view.
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